Paintings
Two paintings have turned up by a German artist named Werner Heckenbach who lived in Wiesbaden and sold his work to GI's and other Americans living there in the 1940s. The first is shown here, followed by a close-up of the signature:
The second painting is also shown below. In spite of the seemingly different style, it was also done by Werner. We know this much about it: It's dated 1948 and the painter Werner Heckenbach told the soldier who bought it that it was of a Jewish or Gypsy Princess who was a friend and a spy during WW1.
Any comments about style, artist, etc.? Werner was said to be able to copy any style of painting and could produce whatever his customers wanted. That accounts for the seeming difference in style. We're hoping to get more pictures of his work and maybe even a picture of himself.
It turns out that Werner came from the Heckenbachs of Brohl. He was born in Niederbreisig on Apr 21, 1911 and descends from Christian Heckenbach, born in 1810 (the brother of Johann Christian Heckenbach born in 1804.) The line goes like this:
Christian Heckenbach 1810
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Michael Heckenbach 1846
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Josef Heckenbach 1884
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Peter Werner Heckenbach 1911
Updated Apr 24, 2002